THEATRE OF WAR: INFRARED

Theatre of War: Infrared Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2021

I've lost count of how may paintings are now in my Theatre of War series. I think maybe 12 or 13. 

Theatre of War: Infrared continues my investigation into how Clausewitz's ideas of the theatre of war can inform critical approaches to contemporary war. I am also interested in how Clausewitz's ideas may reach their limits with the contemporary mutation of war into a kind of everywhere-ness - like a contagion. In my first Theatre of War post and painting, I explain my interest in Clausewitz. 

Theatre of War: Infrared is also a continuation of my research into the increasing military interest in the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS], as an enabler of technology, a type of fires, a manoeuvre space and a domain. I have painted a cloud-like array of circles against a red sky. Signals transmitted by various frequencies in the EMS are indicated by full lines or dotted lines. These lines visualise a signalic occupation of our extended environment, from land to space-based assets. I 'see' this as a force of techno-colonisation. The fake clouds are a clue!

The red background could be many things, a fiery war zone, a heated planet, or the use of infrared frequencies for communication, high energy lasers or detecting warm things. The latter feeds into surveillance and targeting. Ever since my pest controller showed me how his infrared camera could detect pests, the association of infrared with pest control has stuck in my mind. With this in mind,  surveillance and targeting using infrared technology could be described as acts of an exterminator.  

NEWS

* Please check out Dr Beryl Pong's article "The Aesthetics of Drone Warfare", The British Academy, September 2021. Happy to say she mentions my work, which was included in an exhibition Dr. Pong curated last year. I also presented at the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare conference at Sheffield University in February 2020 [when we could still go places!]. Dr. Pong leads the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare research project.  

* My work is also mentioned in  “Coda: the life, death, and rebirth of drone art” by Arthur Holland Michel, in DroneImaginaries: The Power of Remote Vision, Manchester Uni Press, edited by Andreas Immanuel Graafe and Kathrin Maurer.

AND

If you have not had a look at my last post Wingman: Online Exhibition please do!

Cheers,

Kathryn

ECHOES ACROSS TIME

Echoes Across Time Oil on linen 97 x 115 cm 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is occupying our thoughts, dominating the media and changing our lives. 

In the midst of thinking about 'pandemic drones' and surveillance, plus thinking about the concurrent and continuing development of militarised drones, such as the RAAF and Boeing joint Loyal Wingman drone project, I felt the need to return to a quieter contemplation.

The result of this quieter contemplation is Echoes Across Time. While it might appear quieter, I still had thoughts about the current pandemic in mind. These thoughts, however, took me on a journey across time to previous pandemics - the Bubonic Plague of the Middle Ages, early nineteenth century cholera pandemics, the Spanish Flu that traumatised people just after World War 1. Paintings, drawing and prints created by artists across time clearly depict the anguish of pandemic, the ravages of illness and the sorrow of death. 

Like war, disease is a thread that weaves its way through human history. But, life continues. Sometimes lessons are learnt, sometimes not. 

Echoes Across Time 

In Echoes Across Time a red tree-of-life stands as a beacon in a ambiguous landscape. This landscape could be time. Below the tree, a pale blue dot could be Earth. The inference is that life as we know it is dependent on our Earthly environment. Another pale dot hovers over a distant horizon. Is this our moon? Or, is it a mirror image of Earth, but without the tree-of-life. If so, why? Is it Earth before life appeared, or is it a future Earth, after life has disappeared? What secrets do the echoes across time reveal?

Human future depends on how we deal with climate change, pandemic and war. That they intersect needs attention. Perhaps listening for and hearing the echoes of the past, and the echoes that bounce back from the future, are worthwhile undertakings. I suggest that art might help! 

Cheers,

Kathryn

WINGMAN (MQ-28 GHOST BAT)

Wingman (MQ-28 Ghost Bat) Oil on linen 97 x 115 cm 2020

UPDATE: Late March 2022 the Loyal Wingman drone in Australia will now be called Ghost Bat. Here's a Boeing Youtube Video  and an article in Defence Connect online.

The Royal Australian Air Force and Boeing are collaborating to develop a new drone, a Loyal Wingman drone.The drone will fly to support manned aircraft, hence the name 'wingman'. With surveillance, stealth and weapon carrying capabilities the drone will be piloted remotely and/or by pilots in manned aircraft of various kinds. Artificial intelligence will be incorporated as a 'force multiplier' to aid an array of capabilities. This drone, when its development is finalised, will be Australia's first 'homemade' weaponisable drone. You can read more about the Loyal Wingman drone on the Boeing Airpower Teaming System site HERE  .

Added May 5 2020: Today, further news was about the Loyal Wingman drone released by Boeing. You can read that news on the Boeing site HERE

Also today May 5 2020 , an excellent overview by Tyler Rogoway of the drone "Everything We Learned From Boeing About Its Potentially Game Changing Loyal Wingman Drone" was published in The Drive

I am not going to go into more detail about the Loyal Wingman drone, because the Boeing site has it all, including videos, press releases etc.

Wingman Oil on linen 97 x 115 cm 2020

What I am going to do is write a bit about my new painting Wingman. 

In the bottom left of the painting I have painted a Loyal Wingman drone in shades of surveillance night-vision green. I have also painted Australia's Parliament House with two civilian drones hovering in the sky above it. Parliament House is suspended in space, as if it is also an aircraft, possibly the manned system my Wingman supports? In the top left I have painted a satellite, again in shades of green. And, a pale blue dot acts as a sentinel, a reminder of 'home'. All of these elements hover in a cosmic space, but invisible signals - and politics - link them all.

The painting offers open-ended, but political and provocative, narratives. It speaks to the a present and a future increasingly occupied by militarised and militarise-able technologies with persistent and ubiquitous reach. 

What do you think? What kind of stories can be told?

Finishing the satellite in Wingman

The Word 'Wingman'

The name Loyal Wingman is an intriguing one for an unmanned system. Surely the word WingMAN, in some ways, re-mans the unmanned! Traditionally a wingman was a pilot flying as support, outside or behind a lead aircraft or formation. More colloquially, a wingman is someone who acts as support  in a social situation, for example, at a bar. 

I ask, does the word wingman, in some form or other, anthropomorphise or humanise the object - the drone? If so, what does this say about subliminal or overt human desires to have relationships with technology? After all, a drone cannot desire - so - any relationships human beings think they have with drones are going to be one-sided affairs! Does the word wingman create a sense of relationship, by promising attributes of  mateship and buddyship? 

Like ascribing attributes of vision to a drone that cannot see, let alone imagine and dream, the word wingman infers a lot more than protection. What kinds of dangers lurk when we humanise drones and other technologies by giving them names, and ascribing attributes, that denote human capabilities? 

AND, what about the word loyal? Surely a wingman is meant to be loyal, so why re-enforce loyalty in the name of a sensored, but not sentient, object? 

And, as always there is a lot more to ponder, but I will leave it to you now!

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I've previously written about potential problems associated with humanising or embodying the drone. Please visit my previous post with lots of paintings The Drone: Do Not Embody

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Other paintings and posts that intersect with Wingman

Walking The Dog, In The Drone Age

AI: Posing Questions 

Drones and Code: Future Now 

Pay Attention: The Drones Are Here

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What's In The Stockroom  

Showcases nine small paintings under $2000 AUD. 

Prices are current until May 18. 

Cheers,

Kathryn